Who is the greatest match-winner among current ODI bowlers?

Imran Tahir is another mercurial contributor

Comparison of economy rates

Name	Economy Rate of bowler	Economy Rate of team	Difference	Economy Rate of bowler in wins	Economy Rate of team in wins
TA Boult (NZ)	4.56	5.63	1.07	4.3	5.33
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	4.27	5.15	0.88	4	4.83
HMRKB Herath (SL)	4.49	5.35	0.86	4	4.79
MA Starc (Aus)	4.41	5.2	0.79	4.3	4.89
Imran Tahir (SA)	4.43	4.91	0.48	4.43	4.54
DW Steyn (SA)	4.57	4.91	0.34	4.13	4.54
MG Johnson (Aus)	4.86	5.2	0.34	3.96	4.89
M Morkel (SA)	4.95	4.91	-0.04	4.51	4.54
UT Yadav (India)	5.49	5.21	-0.28	4.92	4.83
Mohammed Shami (Ind)	5.61	5.21	-0.4	4.91	4.83

Once again, Starc and Boult stand out for their amazing consistency in all games – wins or losses. Boult is the only bowler above who registers a difference of more than a run per over between his rate and the team’s overall economy rate. He clearly stands out as one of those match-winners who can also control the game by stifling the runs.

At this juncture, talking about the number of maidens bowled by each of the bowlers is quite critical as well, given that in ODIs, nothing builds pressure like a maiden over.

Maiden overs bowled

Name	Innings	Maiden Overs
Mohammed Shami (India)	40	20
M Morkel (SA)	37	19
DW Steyn (SA)	31	23
Imran Tahir (SA)	32	13
MG Johnson (Aus)	29	18
MA Starc (Aus)	22	13
UT Yadav (India)	25	10
TA Boult (NZ)	19	21
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	24	10
HMRKB Herath (SL)	24	8

We see that Boult is yet again the bowler who stands out, bowling at least one maiden over per game or more on average. Only Steyn comes anywhere close, with an average of 0.7 maidens per game.

Coefficient of consistency – Low economy & Low average

Name	Average X Economy
MA Starc (Aus)	75.2
DW Steyn (SA)	89.5
TA Boult (NZ)	93.7
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	101.5
Imran Tahir (SA)	101.7
HMRKB Herath (SL)	107.8
MG Johnson (Aus)	121.1
M Morkel (SA)	122.7
Mohammed Shami (India)	129.9
UT Yadav (India)	131.4

We can clearly see yet again that Starc and Boult figure in the top 3 when it comes to consistency – not giving away too many runs while taking plenty of wickets. Steyn figures in the top 3 as well. These are the bowlers who hurt the opposition the most.

High Wicket-taking games

Name	Innings	Wickets	Wickets/ Innings	No. of 3+ wicket hauls	Percentage
Imran Tahir (SA)	32	56	1.75	9	28
MG Johnson (Aus)	29	48	1.65	7	24
DW Steyn (SA)	31	60	1.9	7	22
TA Boult (NZ)	19	40	2.1	4	21
Mohammed Shami (India)	40	83	2.025	8	20
UT Yadav (India)	25	44	1.76	5	20
MA Starc (Aus)	22	46	2.08	4	18
HMRKB Herath (SL)	24	35	1.4	3	12
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	24	37	1.5	2	8
M Morkel (SA)	37	65	1.9	2	5

This is another piece of data that throws light on a player’s consistency and match-winning capabilities. Once again, it highlights how players like Johnson and Tahir have really good games and then some really average games. They top this list here of percentage of games where they have picked three wickets or more in the last couple of years.

Tahir has nine such hauls in just 32 innings and Johnson has seven in 29. In other words, if Tahir and Johnson haven’t picked up a three wicket haul in the last three games they have played, they are going to definitely do it in the fourth one.

Conclusions

Stats often lie and hence extracting wisdom from stats is not always a sane thing. But it feels wonderful when stats corroborate simple common sense, when they reinforce what you actually see when you watch a game of cricket and what you feel.

All through the World Cup, you could feel something would happen when Mitchell Starc or Trent Boult had the ball in their hands. Meanwhile, Tahir and Johnson are mercurial contributors, Shami is consistent over two years and Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult are match-winners in the truest sense. All this is what the stats have actually proven.

While our stats have kept out bowlers like Wahab Riaz and Ravichandran Ashwin, who are the most improved bowlers in ODI cricket over the last 12 months, it would be unfair to say that we have left out genuine match-winners from our list. All of the tables above show just one thing – on any day if you have Dale Steyn, Mitchell Starc or Trent Boult in your team, you are safe.

What more can a skipper ask when you stifle the opponents like an anaconda and slither in and nip out wickets like a cobra. The stats also show why India concedes so many runs and still wins games and is in the top three ODI teams – because Shami and Umesh Yadav have been picking lots of wickets over a consistently long period of time. The results also show why South Africa are amongst the best bowling sides in the world – they have Tahir, Morkel and Steyn playing for them.

But for the sheer capability to turn matches on their head, you will have to give Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult gold and silver, something we knew even before we started mining for our stats. That is satisfying!